London Buses route 154
London Buses route 154 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Morden and West Croydon, it is operated by London General. History Route 154 commenced operating on 4 March 1959 between Morden Station and Crystal Palace as a replacement for trolleybus route 654. Operation was by AEC Regent III (RT) type. Operation was initially from Carshalton (CN) Garage but transferred to Sutton (A) Garage upon closure of the former on 29 January 1964. Thornton Heath (TH) Garage also held a Saturday allocation on the route. At the time, approximately 70% of the route followed the same roads as Route 157, duplicating between Morden and Rose Hill Roundabout via St Helier Avenue, and then again from Wallington to Crystal Palace via West Croydon. On 12 May 1973, both Routes 154 and 157 were converted to one man operation (OMO) with Daimler Fleetlines (DMS class) replacing RTs. Under this conversion, Sutton Garage remained the primary operator of Route 154, with some involvement by both South Croydon (TC) and Thornton Heath (TH) at various stages. In 1977, the service was re-routed between Carshalton (Windsor Castle) and Wallington to serve Carshalton Beeches via Park Hill, Beeches Avenue and the entire length of Stanley Park Road, instead of running via Beynon Road, Ruskin Road and Park Lane. For Route 154, the first significant break from its substantially shared routing with Route 157 came on 25 April 1981. From this date, the service between West Croydon Bus Station and Crystal Palace was withdrawn, replaced on this section by an increased frequency on the 157. Furthermore, between Wallington and West Croydon, the 154 was diverted via Roundshaw Estate and Duppas Hill, replacing Route 233 which was withdrawn entirely. Under this revised routing, operation was based entirely at Sutton Garage, a situation which has remained to this day. An aside to these changes was the introduction of new Route 254, operating also between Morden and West Croydon, but via Mitcham, Beddington Lane and Waddon. This was a limited service operating Monday to Friday peak hours-only and incorporated into the Route 154 schedule. Buses would arrive at Morden or West Croydon as a 154 with the driver changing over the blinds to 254. (This proved problematic at times as roughly only half of Sutton Garage’s fleet received new blinds incorporating the Route 154 changes and Route 254. On several occasions, drivers were seen ‘chalking-up’ Route 254 on the blank section of the number blind). However, the aim of providing the Beddington Lane industrial area with a bus service proved to be ahead of its time as Route 254 was withdrawn under the service cuts of 4 September 1982 due to lack of patronage. (The Beddington Lane area has been significantly redeveloped since and now has frequent services by means of Routes 455 and 463, as well as Tramlink). By the end of 1982, Sutton Garage’s fleet of standard D/DMS class vehicles were replaced by newly overhauled B20 D/DMS vehicles (DMS2247 upwards), which would be the mainstay on Route 154 until late 1991. In November 1988, in another significant break from Route 157 road-sharing, the 154 was re-routed between Morden Station and Rose Hill Roundabout to serve St Helier Station, running via London Road and Green Lane, instead of St Helier Avenue. This change coincided with the start of the Sutton area local tender unit, branded as 'Sutton Bus'. From late 1991, as more vehicles became spare across the network as a result of tendering losses, Sutton Garage began to receive second-hand Metrobus (M class) vehicles, which would gradually remove the D/DMS class from Sutton’s routes including the 154. Like many South London area bus services, Route 154 had not received any brand new buses since the delivery of the DMS class in the 1970s, but that was to change following the privatisation of the London Bus divisions. In 1992, MCW Metrobuses were introduced. In January 1997, the MCW Metrobuses were replaced by brand-new Northern Counties bodied Volvo Olympians. Three further batches of NV class vehicles were gradually delivered to Sutton, the last arriving in January 1998 with a total of 58 vehicles in normal service, operating alongside a reduced allocation of Metrobuses that were retained to meet overall requirements. In 2002, the route was retained by London General with brand new low-floor East Lancs Myllennium Vyking bodied Volvo B7TLs introduced. In late 2008, the route was retained by London General with brand new Optare Olympus bodied Dennis Tridents introduced. On 12 September 2015, a half hourly weekend night service was introduced. On 26 October 2019, Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LHs were introduced alongside the existing Optare Olympus bodied Dennis Tridents. Current Route Route 154 operates via these primary locations: *Morden Station *Morden South Station *St Helier Station *Sutton *Carshalton Beeches Station *Wallington *Roundshaw *Waddon Station *Fairfield Halls *Wellesley Road Tramlink *West Croydon Station External links *London Bus Routes Gallery *Full Timetable (PDF) 154, London Buses routes